A young guy meets a young girl, and they hit the road. Two outsiders inlove escape the tedium of their lives and end up discovering intimacy,petty crime, and adventure as they race dead-on towards the inevitabletragedy that awaits them. This revamping of “They Live by Night” has anoriginal twist: Marcy, the girl misfit in Bob Gosse’s “Niagara Niagara,”opening this Friday in New York and LA, has Tourette Syndrome. Thedisease, compounded by an aggressive-compulsive disorder, makes hertwitch, shout obscenities, tidy up like crazy, and occasionally beatsomeone up.

Bob Gosse’s first feature for theatrical release stars Robin Tunney(“The Craft“), whose startling performance won her the Best ActressAward at the 1997 Venice Film Festival, and Henry Thomas (“ET,” “Legendsof the Fall“). The soundtrack, which has already gotten considerableattention, will be available in April. Gosse’s background is production,including collaboration on [his cousin] Hal Hartley’s “The UnbelievableTruth” and “Trust” and producing several films, including Nick Gomez’“Laws of Gravity” and “New Jersey Drive,” as co-founder of The ShootingGallery. The company financed and will also be distributing the film. Healso directed “The Last Home Run” for cable. Gosse’s next project willbe directing a script he wrote based on “A Violent Act“, AlecWilkinson’s non-fiction account of a series of murders that took placein the mid-west in 1986.

indieWIRE: Why this script?

Bob Gosse: It fascinated me because of the woman’s role of Marcy. Notonly the fact that she had this disorder but that she was a reallygreat, rich, funny, smart, decisive female character, and I hadn’t reada script in awhile that had such a strong female lead. I could wrap myhead around it. And when I first read it, I thought the TouretteSyndrome was a great spin on this whole road movie, love story angle ina darkly comic way. And once I got an understanding of what the disorderwas, this complete uninhibited release of energy, then I really gotexcited about the script and decided to pursue it as a film. Then itbecame more about the love story, the tragic element.

iW: How is Tourette Syndrome a metaphor for some element of that lovestory?

Gosse: It spoke to this freedom, this lack of inhibitions, the abilityto just be what you are in a very metaphorical sense. And by being thatfree, you are considered a misfit. Your uniqueness was that whichcondemned you to this “freak.” But it was also connected to what NiagaraFalls represented to me. The first impression I had when I went to scoutthe falls was that it was this huge, chaotic, violent, overwhelming butbeautiful thing. So it represented what she was to me — this violent,chaotic woman but also beautiful in her uniqueness.

iW: What was it like to play such a tragic character?

Robin Tunney: I don’t think that Tourette is what made her tragic. Ithink that the way the world reacts to people who have it is tragic. Idid a lot of research, and the people I talked to who had it, none ofthem really felt sorry for themselves. It’s something that’s so much apart of you that you accept it. You have to. The way that people reactis tragic. I don’t think they mind ticking. I think that all of Marcy’sproblems come up are because of the way people react to her. It’s madeher an outsider, a misfit.

iW: How did you prepare to play someone with Tourette?

Tunney: In rehearsal, we did everything in the movie three times withouttics, and the second week we introduced new tics everyday and triedevery one and videotaped them and came up with four that would beMarcy’s.

iW: They weren’t written into the script?

Gosse: She’d have this line of dialogue and then parenthetically “shetics.”

Tunney: Or “she barks.”

iW: That’s pretty funny.

Tunney: It’s weird because I think initially it is funny. And I thinkthe people who suffer from it have a very good sense of humor.

Gosse: You have to appreciate the humor that the disorder can introduceto a situation, and acknowledge its inappropriateness at times. It’sdenial not to acknowledge it.

Tunney: Also I went to the script before and numbered each scene 1-10for the intensity of the Tourette, because we didn’t have the luxury ofshooting in order. So, you had to constantly remind yourself. So, we’dnumber them and do it and I’d have 6 written on my script and Bob wouldsay, “give me 7.”

iW: How did you cast Robin?

Gosse: I had met Robin, just socially in New York, hanging out. Aroundthe time I met her, I read the script, and because of the characterdescription, I saw her in my head as I read it. So then when they saidwe need financing, let’s get a casting list, I always had Robin’s nameon this list of four or five actresses, along with the usual suspects —Juliette Lewis, Kate Winslet, yadda yadda yadda — and everyone waslike, “Who’s Robin Tunney? We can’t get any money, nobody knows who sheis.” And then “The Craft” came out, and had the biggest opening thatweekend. So everybody said, “What about Robin Tunney?”

iW: What did “The Craft” do for your career?

Tunney: A lot. It made the people who financed this movie want to hireme. And it makes you a little bit of a public figure. When I read thatscript, I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I mean,imagine, a teenage witch story! There’s this thing about trust that lentto “Niagara,” because on certain takes I really went for it and I’m surelooked like a Spanish soap opera actress or felt like one, because itwasn’t real and there was nothing subtle about it or something you couldrelate it to in your own life. Oh, my three best friends are hangingfrom the ceiling and killed my parents. How did I feel the last timethat happened? But it lent itself to Niagara, because I went for it withAndy (Flemming), and it totally worked. And there’s nothing better thana twelve year-old girl running up to you and saying, “I love you. . . Ilove you. . . and the part when. . . how did you make them float?” It’ssweet, and they’re such loyal fans. There’s nothing jaded about them —“You get to kiss Skeet. What was that like?”